April 24, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional, Monday ODB Message
April 24, 2023 – Our Daily Bread Devotional, ODB Devotional Message for Monday written by im Gustafson
TOPIC: String Too Short to Use
KEY VERSE: Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. Exodus 16:4
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Exodus 16:21–30
BIBLE IN A YEAR: 2 Samuel 19–20, Luke 18:1–23
ODB DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT FOR TODAY BY K.T. SIM
About a month after the Israelites left Egypt (Exodus 16:1), they ran out of food (v. 3). God provided them with “bread from heaven” (v. 4) in the morning and “meat to eat in the evening” (v. 8). Not knowing what this bread was, they asked, “What is it?” (v. 15). They called it “manna” (v. 31) because it sounded like the Hebrew for “What is it?” Manna consisted of “thin flakes,” was “white like coriander seed” (an herb), and “tasted like wafers made with honey” (vv. 14, 31). Numbers 11:8 says that “it tasted like something made with olive oil.”
OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONAL 24TH APRIL 2023 MESSAGE:
Aunt Margaret’s frugality was legendary. After she passed away, her nieces began the nostalgically bittersweet task of sorting her belongings. In a drawer, neatly arrayed inside a small plastic bag, they discovered an assortment of small pieces of string. The label read: “String too short to use.”
What would motivate someone to keep and categorize something they knew to be of no use? Perhaps this person once knew extreme deprivation.
When the Israelites fled slavery in Egypt, they left behind a life of hardship. But they soon forgot God’s miraculous hand in their exodus and started complaining about the lack of food.
God wanted them to trust Him. He provided manna for their desert diet, telling Moses, “The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day” (Exodus 16:4). God also instructed them to gather twice as much on the sixth day, because on the Sabbath no manna would fall (vv. 5, 25). Some of the Israelites listened. Some didn’t, with predictable results (vv. 27–28).
In times of plenty and times of desperation, it’s tempting to try to cling, to hoard, in a desperate attempt at control. There’s no need to take everything into our own frantic hands. No need to “save scraps of string”—or to hoard anything at all. Our faith is in God, who has promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
DB DEVOTIONAL REFLECTION AND PRAYER BELOW:
In what ways do you sometimes take things into your own hands? How has God proven Himself to be faithful to you in the past?
Father, help me to take You at Your word and to trust You with everything.
Our Daily Bread Devotional 24th April 2023 || ODB for Monday Message . Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODB) is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. our daily bread devotional for today audio our daily bread booklet.
Read Other Topics Here: Open Heavens, Daily Manna, Rhapsody of Realities, Our Daily Bread, Catholic Mass Readings, SU Daily Guide, Daily Fountain, NSPPD Live Prayers
